Wire bed-bottom fabric.



No. 856,298. PATENTED JUNE 11, 1907- H. RICHARDSON & A. L. SENESAG.

WIRE BED BOTTOM FABRIC.

APPLICATION FILED APR.9, 1906..

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PATENTED JUNE 11, 1907. H. RICHARDSON & A. L. SENBSAG.

WIRE BED BOTTOM FABRIC.

APPLICATION FILED APE.9,1908.

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UNITED STATES PATENT CFFICE.

HENRY RICHARDSON AND ARTHUR L. SENESAC, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS;

SAID SENESAC ASSIGNOR TO SAID RICHARDSON.

WIRE BED-BOTTOM FABRIC.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 11, 1907.

Application filed April 9, 1906. Serial No. 310,828.

To (ti/Z 11/71/0727 it may concern:

Be it known that we, HENRY RICHARD- SON, a subject of the King of Great Britain, and ARTHUR L. SENEsAo, a citizen ofthe United States of America, both residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Vire Bed-Bottom Fabrics, of which. the following is a specification.

This invention relates to bed-bottom fabrics, and pertains more particularly to that class or type of such fabrics which are made up of a plurality of connected bent wire units.

The principal object of our invention is to provide a fabric of this type characterized by increased simplicity of construction, economy of production, and ease and facility of assembling, and which shall also afford an efficient distribution of the wire for spaceiilling purposes, permitting the use of relatively large units, and which shall also afford a high degree of resistance to sagging or bowing effects of the fabric as a whole.

Among the salient features and advantages of the fabric of our invention may be mentioned the fact that it dispenses with connecting links and clips at present extensively employed to unite the wire units, the units of our present fabric being connected both longitudinally and laterally by direct interhooking and inter-linking; and the fact that each unit is made from a single length of wire so bent as to form both the body of the link proper and the means for uniting adjacent links.-

In the accompanying drawings we have illustrated two forms of units which may be employed in making up our improved fabric, both employing the principle of the invention; and referring thereto,-

Figure 1 is a plan view of a section of fabric made in accordance with our invention, showing also a portion of the bed frame and the means for connecting the fabric thereto; Fig. 2 is an edge view of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1, but showing a slightly modified form of link as compared with Fig. 1 and Fig. 4 is an edge view of Fig. 3.

Referring to the drawings, 5 may designate the end bar and 6 the side bar of a rectangular bed-bottom frame, said bars being united at the corners of the frame by bolts 7 and nuts 8. The end bars 5 preferably consist of angle irons, the vertical portion of which'is provided with suitably spaced apertures 9 adapted to receive the outer hooked ends of the usual helicals 10, by which the bed-bottom fabric is connected at its upper and lower ends to the bed-bottom frame, the helicals affording the desired degree of resiliency, as is well understood, in fabrics of this character.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, it will be observed that the wire fabric is made up of a plurality of bent wire units that are connected to each other in a manner to form straight longitudinal and transverse strands. Each of these units is made of a single length of wire that is bent to present laterally bowed sides 11 and a pair of intermediate straight longitudinal sections 12 symmetrically disposed with relation to the longitudinal axis of the unit. The longitudinal sections 12 at their upper ends (as herein shown) constitute integral extensions of the sides 11 through bends 13 in the wire, while their lower free ends, which overlie the lower V-shaped end 14 of the unit, are turned downwardly and backwardly, forming hooks 15 adapted to engage the bends 13 of the next longitudinally adjacent unit, in the manner clearly shown. The bowed sides 11 are preferably offset centrally, as shown at 16 (Fig. 2), and are directly interlinked at such offset points, the interlinking being effected by passing the side of one unit through one of the hooks 15, thence upwardly over and along the straight section 12, thence around the bend 13 of the unit, and then downwardlyhalf way of the adj acent side member 11. After the units have been assembled, the backwardly turned end portions of the hooks 15 may be mashed down over the lower ends of the sides 11, if desired, as indicated at the bottom of Fig. 2, to lock the unitsv together against accidental displacement.

In the form of units shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the same constructive principle is employed, with slight variation in the specific form of the unit to effect a somewhat different distribution of the wire in the fabric. The variation herein from the substantiallv diamond form of Figs. 1 and 2 consists in straightening or bringing into a single transverse line the lower half of the laterally bowed sides, and spacing the longitudinal tension members farther apart, thus producing a link having the general form and appearance of a pair of numerals 4 set facing each other with their transverse limbs integrally connected in a common line. Describing .this link more specifically, 17 designates the outwardly bent or bowed sides of the unit, the lower portions whereof are inwardly turned and integrally united transverselyof the'link, while the upper portions, through bends 18,

are integrally'connected with the spacedlongitudinal tension members 19, which latter termmate at their lower ends in underlying hooks 20 engaging the bends 18 of theand 19 of endwise connected units are directly connected and so disposed as to liein straight lines longitudinally of the fabric, wherebylongitudinal tension tending to bend or how the fabric as a whole between the upper and lower cross-bars of the bed-bottom frame is sustained by said sections, thus relieving the outwardly bowed sides of such strains, avoiding any appreciable transverse tension, and permitting such outwardly bowed sides to fill the oflice of spacefillers, .and preventing relative distortion of the sides such as frequently occurs where the side members oflaterallyinterlinked units arerequired to sustain the longitudinal strains imposed on the fabric. It will also be noted as contributing to the simplicity and economy of the fabric that the units are. wholly made up of single sections of wire bent to the required forms and are directly connected without the intervention of links, buttons, clips, and simi lar connecting devices at present extensively employed. \Ve have found by experiment that fabrics made in accordance with the present invention are capable of employing with satisfactory results a comparatively. light wire, thus reducing the total weight of wire used in the fabric.

The presence in each unit of a single intermediate longitudinal strain-sustaining mem ber or of a pair of such members, as herein shown, is immaterial .to the purposes of our invention, as is also the relative spacing of said members; the im ortant consideration being that such mem er or members shall be connected in a substantially straight line or lines longitudinally of the fabric, and shall substantially relieve the side members of the units from longitudinal strains.

Variations and modifications within the principle of the invention may suggest themselves to others skilled in this art, and hence we have not attempted herein to disclose all of the specific forms which the invention may take within the characteristic principle and purview thereof.

We claim:

1. A wire bed bottom fabric including a series of connected individual units each consisting of a single length. of bent wire having a tension member extending longitudinally from end to end of the unit and a laterally disposed space-filling member continuous with said tension member and disposed wholly within and between the longitudinal limits of the latter, substantially as described.

2. A wire bed bottom fabric including a series of connected individual units each consisting of a single length of bent wire having a pair of tension members extending longitudinally from end to end of the unit and laterally bowed space-filling members continuous with said tension members, said space-filling members also extending across said tension members and being disposed wholly Within and between the longitudinal limits of thelatter, substantially as described.

3. A wire bed bottom fabric including a series of connected individual units each con.-

sisting of a single length of wire bent to present a transverse member, inwardly inclined members extending from the ends of said transverse member to one end of the unit, and substantially parallel straight tension members extending lengthwise of the unit, substantially as described.

4. A wire bed-bottom fabric including a series of connected individual units each consisting of a single length of bent wire having a straight tension member extending longitudinally of the fabric and laterally disposed space-filling members, adjacent units in the same longitudinal rows being directly interhooked with each other and adjacent units in the same transverse rows being directly interlinked with. each other, substantially as described.

HENRY RICHARDSON. ARTHUR L. SENESAO.

WVitnesses:

SAMUEL N. POND, FREDERICK C. GooDwIN. 

